257 weatherby magnum-recoil?

rodagra said:
I think you should ask in the General Firearms Discussion forum, but I'm here at the moment so this is what I think: First, a lot depends on the weight of the rifle, the recoil pad, and the way it fits you. Comparative recoil forces can be found on the web, but are only useful in general terms. Personally, the 257 Wby. that Ive shot was a pussycat. I'm currently using a 25-06 with a long bbl. on a Ruger #1B and getting better velocities than those pubblished for the 257 Wby. with a 24" bbl. and it's about as easy and comfortable as can be.
Either cartridge is perfectly adequate for moose and elk if you hit them in the right place, and of course that's true for any rifle/cartridge.
If it's a good buy get it. If for any reason you decide you don't like it just sell it and try again, and there's always a market for weatherbys. It will be expensive to buy factory ammo, but if you can start handloading the cost goes way down.
Click to expand...

What he said.
 
I've got everything in weatherby from the 257 up to the 460 and have to say the guns are made to handle the recoil with the shape of the combe in the stock. I have found the 257 to be a real nice shooter with a remarkably flat trajectory and lots of stopping power, although I prefer to use it for long range antelope. Moose might be a bit of a stretch at longer ranges. recoil is much less felt than say a 30-06, even thought the charge is more in the 257.
 
If you read any of Chuck Hawks stuff you'll know that he usually stays away from anything but moderate cartridges. I think only mag that he owns is a 257 Weatherby and it seems to be his favorite. And yes, the only issue would be with the cost of ammo. But as stated earlier if all you are doing is hunting then a box will last a season or two.
 
.257 WBY Recoil

I've owned 3 Weatherby rifles thus far, .240, .340, and .378.

FWIW, my shoulder thinks the Weatherbys do kick harder than a similar "standard" cartridge offering, e.g., .243 win vs .240 wby, .338 win vs .340 wby, .375 H&H vs .378 wby.

The recoil itself doesn't really seem to be all that much "bigger", but does seem to come at you much faster or more sharply.....

The .240 wby would obviously be the closest match to the .257 wby, and what I find is that the cartridge is pretty mild in the recoil dept, but the relative perception of recoil is always affected by stock shape, weight of gun, state of mind, etc, etc, etc.....

My .240 is in Weatherby's ultralight model, so there's not much gun weight to help absorb recoil. (I'm shooting 100 grain partitions) I find the recoil punch to be maybe slightly less than, say a Remington model 700 in .270 win shooting the defacto standard (for .270 win)130 grain bullet, although the sensation of recoil is different, and the crack of the muzzle blast seems more "intense" from the .240wby. I can tell that I'm shooting a lighter bullet in the .240, i.e., size of push is smaller, but again, the jab of the gun into the shoulder is much faster....... maybe a comparison might be a fast moving tennis ball to the nuts vs a jealous wife's slower moving kick to the same general area ....... you'll notice them both, but in different ways.

In summary, I'd suggest that you'll find the recoil level quite tolerable, and you'll absolutely love the Weatherby rifle!!!! Truth is that the recoil in any north american deer class cartridge will be fairly similar to each other unless you start stepping up to bigger bores and/or heavier bullets driven over 2800 fps.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom